A modern, AI-powered task management application designed for creative professionals who balance day jobs with artistic projects. Built with React and Vite.
Unlike traditional productivity tools optimized for 9-to-5 work, this app understands the unique challenges of multi-hyphenate creatives: juggling pentesting with music production, research with art, day job with passion projects. It helps you stay motivated, prevent burnout, and make progress on what matters most.
This app is designed for creative professionals who refuse to choose just one path:
- 🎸 Musicians with day jobs - Balancing your career with your art (e.g., cybersecurity researcher by day, industrial music producer by night)
- 🔬 Researcher-Artists - Academia or R&D work alongside creative projects
- 💻 Technical Creatives - Developers, security professionals, engineers with creative side projects
- 🎨 Multi-Hyphenates - Anyone juggling a "responsible" career with passion projects that matter deeply to you
- 🚀 Side Project Builders - Founders, creators, makers who need to balance day job with building something new
If you've ever felt guilty for not working on your creative project, or burned out from neglecting your well-being, this app is for you.
- Task Management: Add, edit, delete, and mark tasks as complete
- Categories & Tags: Organize tasks by category (Work, Personal, Health, Learning, Other)
- Priority Levels: Set task priority (Low, Medium, High)
- Due Dates: Assign deadlines and track overdue tasks
- Recurring Tasks: Create tasks that repeat daily, weekly, monthly, or on workdays
- Vacation Mode: Pause recurring task generation during vacation periods
- AI Recommendations: Get personalized insights and suggestions powered by Claude or ChatGPT (supports multiple AI providers)
- Multi-Language Support: English and French Canadian (Français Canada)
- Local Storage: Your tasks are saved automatically in your browser
- Responsive Design: Works great on desktop and mobile devices
- Node.js (version 16 or higher)
- npm or yarn
- Clone or download the repository and navigate to the project directory:
cd compass
- Install dependencies:
npm install
- Start the development server:
npm run dev
- Open your browser and visit the URL shown in the terminal (typically http://localhost:5173)
See
QUICKSTART-GITLAB.md
for a 5-minute deployment guide.
Or deploy to Netlify by dragging the
dist
folder to
netlify.com.
For detailed deployment options, see
DEPLOYMENT-GITLAB.md
.
- Add a Task: Fill in the task form at the top with title, description, category, priority, and due date
- Complete a Task: Click the checkbox next to any task to mark it as complete
- Edit a Task: Click the edit icon (pencil) to modify task details
- Delete a Task: Click the delete icon (trash) to remove a task
- Filter Tasks: Use the All/Active/Completed buttons to filter your view
- Get AI Recommendations: Click the "Get AI Recommendations" button in the sidebar for insights
The app supports multiple AI providers for generating task recommendations:
- No setup required
- Provides basic insights based on task statistics
- Great for trying out the app without an API key
- Click the settings gear icon (⚙️) in the AI Assistant sidebar
- Select "Claude" as your provider
- Get your API key from console.anthropic.com
- Paste your API key and select your preferred model:
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Recommended) - Best balance of intelligence and speed
- Claude 3.5 Haiku - Faster and more cost-effective
- Claude 3 Opus - Most capable for complex analysis
- Click "Save Settings"
- Click the settings gear icon (⚙️) in the AI Assistant sidebar
- Select "ChatGPT" as your provider
- Get your API key from platform.openai.com/api-keys
- Paste your API key and select your preferred model:
- GPT-4o Mini (Recommended) - Fast and cost-effective
- GPT-4o - Most capable model
- GPT-4 Turbo - Balanced performance
- GPT-3.5 Turbo - Fastest and cheapest
- Click "Save Settings"
Your API key is stored locally in your browser's localStorage and is never sent to our servers. Only you have access to it, and it's used exclusively to make direct API calls to your chosen provider (Anthropic or OpenAI).
compass/
├── src/
│ ├── components/
│ │ ├── TaskForm.jsx # Form to add new tasks
│ │ ├── TaskList.jsx # List container for tasks
│ │ ├── TaskItem.jsx # Individual task component
│ │ ├── AIRecommendations.jsx # AI insights sidebar
│ │ └── Settings.jsx # AI provider configuration
│ ├── services/
│ │ └── aiService.js # AI provider abstraction layer
│ ├── App.jsx # Main app component
│ ├── main.jsx # App entry point
│ └── *.css # Styling files
├── index.html # HTML template
├── package.json # Dependencies
└── vite.config.js # Vite configuration
We're building the foundation for a productivity tool that actually understands creative professionals:
Infrastructure (In Progress)
- Dark Mode: Light, dark, and system default theme options
- Comprehensive Settings Page: Dedicated settings page with user profile, appearance, language, AI, and recurring tasks configuration
- Enhanced i18n: Full translation support across all components
- User Preferences: Display name and personalized settings
Next Up (Aligned with MVP Priority)
- Morning Focus View: Start each day with ONE work priority + ONE personal priority
- Energy Level Tracking: Tag tasks by required energy (deep focus vs. low energy) and track your patterns
- Creative Time Blocks: Sacred, protected time for your passion projects
- Work-Life Balance Dashboard: Visual representation of how you're allocating time across life domains
- Daily Check-ins: Morning intention setting and evening reflection to build sustainable habits
This app is evolving to serve creative professionals balancing day jobs with passion projects. Our mission: help you stay motivated, prevent burnout, and thrive across multiple life domains without sacrificing what matters most.
Energy-Aware Scheduling
- Track energy levels throughout the day (morning person vs. night owl)
- Schedule creative work during peak energy hours
- Flag when you're overloaded and suggest what to deprioritize or delegate
- "Rest mode" that blocks out recovery time after intense work periods
Context Switching Optimizer
- Batch similar tasks together (all client calls on Tuesday/Thursday)
- Create "deep work blocks" for creative projects
- Warn when your day has too many context switches
- Suggest transition rituals between work modes
Burnout Prevention System
- Weekly work-life ratio dashboard
- Red flags when you haven't scheduled personal time in X days
- Mandatory break reminders (Pomodoro-style but personalized)
- "Energy debt" tracker - warns when you're accumulating burnout
Creative Time Blocks
- Sacred creative time (e.g., "Creative Fridays")
- Rotation system: "This week: Production → Next week: Marketing → Following week: Networking"
- AI suggests what aspect of your creative projects to focus on based on deadlines and recent activity
Music Career AI Agent
- Scans for relevant festivals, venues, labels in your genre
- Tracks submission deadlines for compilations, showcases, residencies
- Suggests networking opportunities
- Monitors similar artists and suggests strategies
Project Milestone Tracker
- Break down big goals into weekly chunks
- AI suggests realistic timelines based on your schedule
- Celebrates wins (first release, festival booking, publication, etc.)
Morning Ritual Generator
- "Today's Focus" - ONE main work priority + ONE personal priority
- "Energy forecast" - predicts if today will be draining based on calendar
- Suggests your first task based on: deadlines, energy level, upcoming context
Calendar Intelligence
- Syncs with work calendar
- Auto-blocks "focus time" around meetings
- Detects "meeting-heavy weeks" and automatically schedules recovery
- Integrates with existing tools (ClickUp, etc.) adding the personal layer on top
Smart Notifications
- "You haven't worked on [creative project] in 8 days - want to schedule 2 hours this weekend?"
- "Your next 3 days are intense - I've blocked Sunday for rest"
- Deadline reminders with context
Daily Check-in
- Morning: "What's your energy level today? Any blockers?"
- Evening: "How did today feel? What should we adjust tomorrow?"
- Weekly review: "You crushed work this week but neglected music - let's rebalance"
Goal Alignment
- Tracks multiple life domains: Career, Research, Creative, Health, Social
- Flags when one domain is dominating everything
- Suggests experiments: "Try 'No Meeting Wednesdays' for a month"
Motivation & Accountability
- Tracks streaks for creative projects
- Sends encouragement when you're consistent
- AI-generated pep talks based on your personality
- "Remember why you started" prompts when motivation dips
Integration Mode
- Pulls tasks FROM other tools but adds the life-balance layer ON TOP
- Doesn't try to replace existing tools, just makes them healthier
- "You have 47 tasks - here are the 3 that actually matter today"
Creative Professional Focus
- Templates for people with "day job + passion project" lives
- Optimized for multi-hyphenate creatives, not 9-to-5 workers
- Understands researchers, artists, founders, creative technologists
Anti-Hustle Features
- "You've worked 6 days straight - take tomorrow OFF"
- Celebrates rest days as much as productive days
- No guilt-tripping, no toxic productivity culture
- "Slow progress is still progress" mentality
Industry-Specific Intelligence
- Music: Bandcamp Friday, Spotify for Artists stats, festival submissions
- Research: Conference deadlines, publication cycles, collaboration tracking
- Creative: Portfolio updates, networking events, skill development
Multi-Project Juggling
- Orchestrates attention across multiple projects
- Detects conflicts and adapts priorities
- Schedules prep time before collaborative sessions
Life Event Adaptation
- Conference season prep, job interview focus, creative seasons
- Adapts to your natural rhythms and external demands
- "Festival season coming - let's prep marketing in advance"
Collaboration Context
- Knows when you're collaborating
- Schedules prep time before collaborative sessions
- Follows up after meetings with action items
- Morning "Today's Focus" - One work task, one personal task
- Energy-aware task scheduling - Right task at right time
- Creative time blocks - Protected time for passion projects
- Calendar sync - See the whole picture
- Evening check-in - Build the feedback loop
Then expand based on what users actually use and need.
- Task search and advanced filtering
- Data export/import (JSON, CSV)
- Mobile app version
- Additional languages
- Additional AI providers (Gemini, etc.)
- Task templates and quick actions
- Calendar view for tasks
- Task attachments
- React 18
- Vite 6
- CSS3 with CSS Variables
- Local Storage API
- React Router (for navigation)
- Anthropic Claude API (optional)
- OpenAI ChatGPT API (optional)
This app is in active development and we'd love your input!
Try it out and share feedback:
- Click the 💬 feedback button in the app (bottom-right corner)
- Open an issue on GitLab with suggestions or bug reports
- Share how you're using it to balance your creative work with your day job
Perfect for:
- Early adopters who want to help shape a tool for creative professionals
- Multi-hyphenates looking for better work-life balance
- Anyone tired of productivity tools that make you feel guilty for resting
MIT